Below the Bulwarks (Hiatus)
by Shrapnel893
Summary: God's playground under the rising run is eroded, spiraling into hurricanes of despair as the war between the Kancolle and Iroha rages on. In an all out surprise attack on humanity's last surviving strongholds, the city of Sheol falls and the battle-hardened veterans of the Kancolle must seize it back before the Iroha take the opportunity to quickly gain the upperhand in the war.
1. Defeat

**Title:** Below the Bulwarks

**Pairings:** Multiple

**Rating:** Teen (T)

**Warning(s):** Mild Depictions of Violence and Coarse Language, Suggestive Themes

**Recommended Font/Page Layout:** Open Sans, 1/2, Tighten, Light Story Contrast

**Overall Song Choice:** _Voiceless_ by coldrain_  
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**Alternative Song Choice(s):** _Echoes_ by Dharmata, _Like a Machine_ by Tragedy Machine

**Author's Note:** Infrequent chapter updates, alternate universe, slow build-up, re-upload/re-do of previous version, rating may change to Mature (M) depending upon later events

**Full Synopsis:**

_God's playground under the rising run is eroded, spiraling into hurricanes of despair as the war between the Kancolle and Iroha rages on. In an all out surprise attack on humanity's last surviving strongholds, the city of Sheol falls and the battle-hardened veterans of the Kancolle must seize it back before the Iroha take the opportunity to quickly gain the upperhand in the war. _

_In the midst of this, an ancient alien technology begins to stir below the bulwarks and if it fully awakens, then everything—not just Sheol—will fall into the waters of ruin._

Read and review, but most of all enjoy.

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><p><strong>|. Defeat<strong>

Broken bodies, more metal than man yet more human than machine, lay dead around her. Floating in the water were the bits and pieces left, twisted and spent. Ridden with holes, their leader was depths deep below the water's surface, now just a wreck, and the only thing to remain above was the last orders given to them: _don't let the enemy pass. _Shiranui tightened a gloved fist, calmly trying to assess the situation.

Circuits from her arm, tangled and exposed, sparked as she lurched forward and grimaced, shoulder twitching with each moment made to salvage what ammunition she could from Kuroshio's remains. Her eyes went over to the spot of Isokaze's sinking, wondering if their orders still applied even after the fact. The fact that, given their casualties, they had no way of _not_ letting the enemy slip through and wreak havoc on the populace of Summerland. One of seven giant, sprawling cities resting on open water, it was full of the delusional and self-conceited. She could care less for the place, but to abandon her duty was considered treason, punishable by decommission.

The main bulk of 1st Fleet was in that direction, and she assumed them to already be alerted to the threat thanks to Hatsushimo, one of the only survivors of their unit. Summerland would be protected, she had no doubt of that. More of a concern was the loss right before her eyes. Hatsushimo was the third destroyer out of five total, the first two being herself and Wakaba, to survive, and, currently, the girl was helping Kiso clean the wound to her right eye-socket.

A gaping hole now, it leaked fluids someone could easily have mistaken for tears if she didn't already know Kiso rarely shed any. She watched the sole remaining light cruiser of their unit wipe the fluids away and dip her fingertips into the water, teeth bared. Like a shark wanting to rip and rend into its prey, Kiso's glare was turned toward the direction the enemy had went. On the other side of her, Chikuma, one of two heavy cruisers, dutifully held onto the wreckage of her elder counterpart. With a comforting expression, she stroked Tone's hair, burnt from incendiary, as her body lay in her lap, torn asunder. With each stroke the delicate giantess made, Shiranui was reminded of the moment when everything had went to hell in the few minutes of their deployment.

Along with Hamakaze's unit, they were sent out to "scout" the enemy. With little regard for anything but the city's safety, the Grand Admiral practically threw them away. It was not long before they were ambushed, Kiso taking the first hit and rendered half-blind, her screams and subsequent thrashing about signifying the start of their massacre; total and utter defeat. Isokaze and Kuroshio were quickly sunk after this and, with their leader and second-in-command gone, they had immediately switched to a more tight-knit formation, only to have the other three light cruisers bombarded. Ooi and Kuma had been taken out trying to provide support for Tone as Tama shielded Kiso from the shells—the only reason she was still operational. After them, Tone met her end from a multitude of torpedoes.

By then, what remained was a measly force. Yet, the enemy had held off from finishing them to instead push deeper into their territory, Summerland obviously being their target. She tore her glove on some debris, fluid trickling down her wrist as she looked at it. The Grand Admiral was to blame for the near total decimation of their unit. He hadn't utilized them effectively against the enemy. If he'd just taken more into consideration than some bureaucrat's interests. _He was exactly the same as the rest: spineless._

"Shiranui! Shiranui!" Hatsushimo was coming toward her now, voice ringing across the distance. One of her turrets was gone, mangled metal where it'd been attached to her side and her uniform in tatters on that same side. Given her chipper personality, she either wasn't bothered by it, or her demeanor was a facade to hide her pain. "Shiranui...!" she heaved, doubling over. Smoked rolled thinly off her damaged side, and she fluttered a hand about, "Hamakaze's unit is en-route to help us. They weren't ambushed as badly as we were and want to know our situation. What should I tell them?"

"Tell them we've sustained heavy casualties. Seven out of the total eleven sunk. The remaining four are suffering from mild to severe damage and lack of fuel."

"Understood!" Hatsushimo did a clumsy salute, off-kilter as she made her way over to Chikuma next. The girl was now trying to speak in vain to Chikuma, lost without Tone. She took note of her glance in Wakaba's direction, who had stopped functioning right as the battle had ended and was now being supported by Kiso, smoking and missing an arm, but otherwise unharmed.

Without moving, Shiranui addressed the shadow looming behind her. "What is it?"

"Sir, if we chase after them now, they won't be expecting it."

She turned. That's right—with both Isokaze and Kuroshio dead, the duty of unit commander fell to her. Chikuma was her second, but given her disregard for anything that wasn't Tone, she expected nothing from her. She had to do all within her power to live up to Isokaze's expectations and lifted her chin a fraction at the thought, "Our best course of action is to remain here." There was an abrupt pull, Kiso's hand now digging into her shoulder. A piece of her uniform was tied around her head to cover the missing eye, blackened red.

"We can't let those bastards get near the Fleet, you know this as well as I do!"

"Kiso, _think._ The only outcome from chasing after them would be us being destroyed—and that's only _if _we somehow manage to catch up with them. We have neither the proper firepower nor enough fuel to pursue them. Furthermore, they've well-prepared for taking care of the enemy on their own. Our help isn't needed." They became deadlocked.

"But—!" The fiery-spirited light cruiser's eye lowered. Her grip loosened. "You..." Finally, her hand was once again at her side, clenched as the other still supported Wakaba. "You're... right. I shouldn't let what happened get the better of me. I'm sorry. We can't take the risk of losing more people. I—"

"Have every right to be frustrated. I am, too. All of us are, even Hatsushimo."

"It's all that asshole's fault. If he hadn't sent us ahead of the Fleet, then..." The baring of her teeth became the extending of her fangs and she huffed, turning to the side with a curse. "Dammit!" Without a physical outlet for her anger, she resorted to a string of more vulgarity.

When she settled down, Shiranui continued, "Hatsushimo told me Hamakaze's unit is on its way to offer assistance, so in the meantime I need you to figure out how much ammunition is salvageable, and, if you can, see if Wakaba can be re-initialized."

"On it."

Inspecting her damaged arm, the threat here was surely to be dealt with, but what about any of the other six cities? Could similar attacks have befallen the others, as well? Sheol, the smallest city, was the one most likely to fall if this ended up being the case. Its fleet, nicknamed the "Devils of Sheol", to her knowledge only had a handful of hardened veterans and many new additions. Given the scale the enemy had attacked here, the much smaller 5th Fleet would have some difficulty launching a counteroffensive if the city was taken. The remaining five cities—Ys, Mictlan, Nysa, Shambhala, and Lemuria—were all relatively secure, their fleets a solid mixture of the two. She hoped their Admirals weren't as incompetent as hers.

"S-Shiranui! New orders!" Hatsushimo glided up to her, teetering in a rush. Wobbly, she balanced out before speaking again, "The Grand Admiral wants all of us to report back immediately!"

"What about Hamakaze's unit?"

"They'll meet us halfway!"

"Impatient _and_ incompetent," she said under her breath, turning to Kiso still collecting casings and belts. "Kiso, take only what you can carry! We're moving out!" Looking down to the girl again, she focused on the fires from the battlefield reflecting off her eyes. "You're in charge of Wakaba until we get back."

"What about you?"

"I'll help Chikuma. Get moving."

As Hatsushimo did as ordered, Shiranui gazed up to a cloudless sky and the sun shining down in all its omnipotent glory. She couldn't disobey orders, lest she be reconditioned, but made a new decision then and there: _no more mistakes._ The Grand Admiral would pay for his stupidity and, one day, she'd gladly see his discharge from service, even if witnessed from the firing end of her turrets. A reckless man like him wasn't fit to lead 1st Fleet, let alone _any_ fleet and, knowing his ways, she also already had an idea of what the new orders entailed.

What she surmised earlier had come to pass.

**—◄ｴ**Θ**ｴ►—**

Menacing and devoid of anything but a dark core, her target was smiling. Like a demon from the blackest depths of the sea, it rose from the water and launched a barrage of gunfire. Backpedaling, Maya returned fire with her own arm-mounted turret, shredding the would-be hellbringer to a burning wreckage that was banished back to whence it came. Spinning in the few seconds it took for the turret to cool down, she rammed her other arm down into the head of another, blasting it. Bits of goo and chunks of metal came free and were shaken off as she pulled it out. Making a fist, Maya raised both arms and sprayed the immediate area, catching more of them until Nachi gave the ceasefire order.

"Check your ammunition and take care of any immediate injuries!" Towering over the majority of them and strict to a fault, their unit commander wasted no time in laying out their next course of action, "Sheol is just ahead! Everyone except for Yayoi and Kisaragi prepare the switch to ground-based combat! Our top priority is clearing out the Iroha forces, but provide assistance to any civilians if necessary!"

Ready to go, Maya took the opportunity to scan the seaport. Signs of battle were clearly seen, but not much else. Biting her bottom lip, she hoped Choukai was alright.

The attack had happened so fast, so suddenly, none of the them had any idea what the full size of the enemy was. Before losing contact with the Admiral, the reports coming in had given an estimation of at least three moderately sized fleets, but that couldn't be possible unless the majority of those forces had retreated already. Right now, all they've had to deal with were a handful at a time... most of them barely even a threat. It made no sense.

"Maya, we're moving." Twin anti-personnel turrets still mounted atop each shoulder, Nachi had her arms crossed, watching with spotlight eyes. "Kako's on point, you're directly behind. Get there. Remember, every moment wasted is one better spent retaking Sheol."

"Right, sorry!"

"No need." Their unit commander gave a quick smile and nod, "Don't fret. I'm sure she's fine."

"Worry more about the enemy!" Ashigara said, pointing toward their objective.

Knocking her fists together, Maya woke her wandering mind and got into position, moving in conjunction with Kako further ahead. As they continued cautiously the waters around them were still, even as they approached the seaport. Most of the buildings wore bullet-holes, a few sported missile impacts, and—as she'd observed before—little else. Oil-rich flames sprouted from the water underneath them like tendrils wanting to feed, while scattered here and there were enemy and ally alike.

Skirting around one of the bigger wrecks, she came face to face with one of the enemy's heavy cruisers. From the coral-like armor completely covering its body, the lower half of its face, and coming up the right side to rest above the eye, it was definitely a _Ne-_class. Given its once cardinal eye color, an elite-rank, no less.

This explained why the enemy were so few. An elite force masked behind trash and fodder.

"It's the Abyssal Fleet," Nachi told them, holding up what looked to be the head of a _To-_class light cruiser. Having no eyes, only a smooth, rounded top and row of large, displaced teeth connected to a large, meaty neck, there was no way to gauge its rank. Only when it fired its armaments would they be able to see, but there was no need. Dropping the head to pick up one of its turrets, she inspected the muzzles. The residue was red.

"C-commander Nachi...?" Natori, clutching her sole turret in both hands like an assault fire, was taking care not to get too close to anything as she weaved around carcasses and corpses. Enemy vessels and human soldiers—none of their number among the dead. "What should we do about any survivors?"

"There are none." She tossed the turret and gave the signal for Kako to start back on point.

"Abyssal don't leave any," Ashigara added, stripping what appeared to be a com-link from one of the soldiers. Mainly tasked with keeping order within the city limits and dealing with the lesser Iroha grunts, they hadn't stood a chance. The one she'd taken the com-link from had cauterized wounds, floating backside up in the water. It looked like some of the Abyssal had beam weaponry.

"See if you can contact anyone. Maya, Natori—search the bodies for any communications devices that aren't busted if you can. We'll need more than just one."

Maya went to the nearest soldier and pulled him from the water only to find him without his head above the jaw. The next one she found was broken and Natori said something, no doubt informing Nachi that she'd secured one. Crushing the broken com-link between her fingers, she let the pieces pluck into the water.

"How about you, Maya? Find one yet?"

"Nothing."

"Three's enough, we're wasting enough time as is. Get behind Kako. Ashigara, you next. Natori and I will take up the rear. Next stop is Sheol."

**—◄ｴ**Θ**ｴ►—**

Hugging a wall deep within city limits, Captain Rizzo peeked around to make sure the enemy had their backs turned. Motioning for Donald and Ada to cross, he scanned the lead target with his helmet's heads-up display, its on-screen digital interface going through a dozen processes at once to find any relevant data. After a moment, the result popped up: _Symbiotic Hime_. He relayed this information to Donald and Ada, watching the Symbiotic Hime order its troops around, tearing up anything that looked like an underground entrance.

"We can't do anything against that!" Donald remarked, crouched in front of Ada with his head bowed and anti-material rifle propped against an arm, already giving up. "This is such bullshit. Man..."

"Don, shut up." Ada leaned over him. "Three... eight..." Pausing, data flashed on Rizzo's screen, coming up with more information about the other targets. Besides the Symbiotic Hime, there were five _Ni-_class destroyers and two _Ne-_class heavy cruisers. "Eight, including the Hime. Your orders, sir?"

"The destroyers have the thinnest armor. Hit them first. Aim for the eye or dome."

Ada cuffed her partner on the helmet. "Are you getting this Don?"

"Yeah..."

"Where should we setup, sir?"

Pulling up a map of the area, Rizzo marked their location and that of the enemy, "This building." Highlighting a five-story building near the Admiral's headquarters, he laid out the path to take them there. "Setup on the third floor. I'll stay here and distract them."

"Sir, that's—"

"That's ballsy, and you've only been Captain for thr—ow! Hey! Dammit Ada," Don whined, fixing his helmet. "Stop it with that shit already."

"Captain, if you do this, then—"

"Then you have a better chance at getting at their blindspots."

"Works for me. Anything that gets this done faster."

"Sir, I don't approve, but don't do anything too risky." Ada tapped Donald's helmet. "Come on. Good luck, Captain."

Rizzo waited until the two of them were in position, then peeked around the corner again. The enemy had a goal, and it wasn't the destruction of the city. Not entirely. Their target was something else and he wondered what it could be, but couldn't dwell as the Symbiotic Hime was looking around in an alerted state. His gut clenched and his fears were confirmed when the wall was bathed in a red hue, one of the _Ni-_class destroyers hovering above him.

Before he could act, it grabbed his forearm with grey, weed-like tentacles and threw him into the city square. Landing on his back, he tried reaching for his rifle only for the Symbiotic Hime to have the monstrosity attached to its back crush it under a massive hand. Detaching from its living weaponry, the Symbiotic Hime strode to him as its main turret opened its mouth, now squatting on both hands like a dog sits on its hind legs and grinning with two rows of sharp teeth as it powered up. He was partially blinded by the red light that followed, his helmet's visor lowering its opacity to protect his vision.

Standing over him now, surrounded by the light, the Symbiotic Hime looked even more like a demon with the two horns growing from its forehead. He heard Ada come in, requesting to start firing, but before he could give a reply, the Symbiotic Hime opened then closed its mouth, attempting to speak. Staring intensely, concentrating even more so, it broke the barrier of what was thought to be possible.

"Y... You..." Pausing, it gave a slight tilt of the head, "Where... is it...? The... f... fragment..." Pointing down, it waited.

"Fragment...?"

"Under..." Again, it pointed down.

"Under... underground...?"

"Under... ground... the fragment..." Just then, the Symbiotic Hime's head snapped forward, blue-black blood spurting from a headshot. It stumbled forward a few steps, falling to its knees. "The... fragment... Where..." it seemed to plead, searching for the answer, "Underground..." The glow in its eyes dimmed. "Where..." Finally, it collapsed beside him on its side, dead.

Its host gone, the Symbiotic Hime's living weaponry started to go berserk but was quickly put down by two well-placed shots to the inside of its mouth. Rizzo sat up and scrambled straight for the nearest cover, glancing back to where Donald and Ada were positioned. He hadn't given any signal to fire, and Ada wasn't the type to disobey orders, so then—

"This is Commander Nachi, Kancolle Kanmusu Divison, 5th Fleet. We've secured the immediate area and await your orders, sir." The voice was disemboweled and nearby, but where?

"The Kancolle... Kanmusu Division...?" Looking around, all the other enemies were also out of commission. "Did Admiral Brantley send you to assist us?"

"Our main priority was retaking control of Sheol." Stepping out from a building was a tall, fair skinned woman with long, black hair tied back into a side ponytail. Her eyes were an unnatural tint of bright yellow muddied with brown, her expression severely grim. On her shoulders were two turrets—and they looked to have been recently used. "You _are_ the ranking officer here, correct, sir?"

"Y—yes, I am. Donald, Ada! Regroup here!" Watching their new ally become joined by four others, he looked down at the Symbiotic Hime again. "Come introduce yourselves..."


	2. Descent

**||. Descent**

"Y'all look like crap," Tenryū whispered with amusement, standing behind her commander in their designated lines as they awaited the Grand Admiral. "Never think ya would be hit, too cautious." Her sides were twitching, mouth clamped hard, stifling her laughter. "Serves ya right, ya cold-hearted bitch!"

"Tenryū!" Hamakaze whispered back, not peeling her eyes from the Grand Admiral who just entered. What she'd seen in Tenryū to appoint her as her second-in-command, Shiranui couldn't hope to guess. "Listen to the briefing!"

The Grand Admiral had gathered what was left of her unit and Hamakaze's after dismissing the larger gathering of the fleet after the attack on Summerland. As she'd predicted, the enemy had quickly been taken care of, and seeing as he was pausing for effect, looking at each of them in turn, the other cities had also been attacked. Given this, the likely outcome to this briefing would be their two units performing a joint operation to provide back-up for the 5th Fleet at Sheol or retake it.

Moving up from his neck-length gnarled beard, black speckled grey, Shiranui could only feel a disdain for the man, confirming her hatred. Boiling to dangerous levels, it coiled around her heart like a snake, filling it with a passion that called for blood. She wasn't even listening to his briefing, despite wanting to see her predication hold true, only catching that the 5th Fleet's Admiral wasn't responding on any communication line sent out. All she saw was a stain that needed to be erased.

Before long, the Grand Admiral had dismissed them and she only realized this when Tenryū had punched her arm, childish as ever. "Come on, get a drink with me!" Bending down to look her in the eye, she snickered, "What do ya say, Shiranui?"

"Get out of my face and go back to your unit. Prepping yourself and your subordinates is what you should be doing right now, _not_ bothering me."

"We don't have time for your crap," Kiso growled, sporting a new dark green eye-patch that matched her hair color. Underneath it was now just a blank prosthetic from the age before cybernetics as it was all they had on hand.

Tenryū taken aback. "Woah! Calm down, matey! I was tryin' to lighten the mood!"

"Then shut the fuck up."

"Found any treasure yet?"

Kiso exploded. "That's it, you bitch!" She grabbed her fellow light cruiser by the jacket collar and pulled forward, fist raised. "I swear, say another fucking word and I'll—!"

"Kiso, let her go." Arms crossed, Shiranui sighed. "Go check on Chikuma and Hatsushimo. Make sure they're ready to move out."

Once she'd left, giving Tenryū the death stare the whole way, the said light cruiser leaned closer. "A loss is a loss, Shiranui. No use dwelling on it."

"If your unit was all but gone, you'd be like this too. Don't rile Kiso up anymore, are we clear?"

"Oh, I'm so scared," Tenryū mocked, doing a curtsy little wave, "She's gonna beat me up and steal me booty! Rrr!"

Another sigh. "For the last time, go back to your unit. They're waiting for you."

"No."

"Then just leave."

"Alright," she said with a snicker, "but we're having that drink, whether ya want to or not." Then, she was gone. Finally. Now she could make any final preparations for what lay ahead.

Looking in the direction of her unit, Kiso was scolding Hatsushimo and Chikuma stood apart still lost in her own little world. She wondered how much it would take for the heavy cruiser to break entirely and lose all functionality—at which point she'd be totally useless. Right now, it wasn't a concern. Hatsushimo and Kiso were capable enough, and it's not like Chikuma was all _that_ reliable when Tone _was_ alive, either. Thus, nothing is lost from her obvious descent into the beginnings of insanity.

Her primary task was ensuring combat readiness. Inspecting their equipment from afar, it appeared that Hatsushimo was ready, though her side turret was still gone. The others were all attached, one on the opposite side and two others to each arm, so the question of how much firepower she could dish out wasn't an issue. If there was an issue, it was the girl herself. While upbeat and cheerful, she seemed slower than normal; unfocused.

Kiso, on the other hand, was the same Great White she'd always been. In fact, even more than before. Her recent injury had her stirred up more than usual, evidenced by her hostility toward Tenryū—not that she ever liked the woman before, but not to point of threatening to bash her face in. She had become increasingly more violent, full of pent up rage with nowhere for it to go, ticking like a time-bomb and ready to explode at any moment. Hopefully she'd be able to unleash it on whatever awaited them at Sheol before the timer went off.

**—◄ｴ**Θ**ｴ►—**

"No tunnels or pathways are showing up on the blueprint data..." Ada said, shrugging.

What Rizzo wanted to know is how she acquired that data. "Right, well, do any of you ladies know about anything buried here or the fragment it was talking about?"

"No, sir, we aren't allowed privileges like that."

"What do you mean?"

"Living cybernetic weapons," she waved a hand, "like ourselves, are only given two tasks: battling the Iroha and protecting the cities from their attacks."

"Didn't do a very good job of that—_ah!_ Hey, Ada! Dammit!" Donald whined, muttering as he got to his feet to retrieve his helmet now at the opposite end of the city square.

"Therefore, and as an added precaution in case of capture, we aren't given any sensitive materials such as details of a city's infrastructure or detailed breakdowns of enemy units."

Dusting off his helmet, Donald strode over, "Then how the hell did you get here?"

"We used the com-links," the one named Ashigara answered. Nearly as tall as Nachi, off by a few, she had the same exact eyes, but a completely different hairstyle and facial structure. Rizzo guessed the two of them were sisters. "Happened to pick up your frequencies and all that, then came in and took care of the trash."

"Are you the only unit Admiral Brantley sent in? Doesn't he know one unit can't sweep through the whole city by themselves? What's he thinking?!"

Nachi furrowed her brow, eyes on the ground, "We lost contact with Admiral Brantley halfway to our objective, sir. Since then, attempts to reconnect communications have all failed. Regretfully, I believe the Admiral is no longer alive." Gritting her teeth, everything seemed to quiet down as she continued. "And that means the remainder of the 5th Fleet is also gone."

"Can't be!" Ashigara stomped on the Symbiotic Hime's head. Pressing down hard, she was grinning. "No way Myōkō and Haguro lost to those freaks. They're alive!"

"I want to believe that too, but given the magnitude of the attack, we have to assume the worst case scenario."

"I'm with Ashigara on this one, Commander." Maya, watching the perimeter along with Kako and Natori, said. "Choukai wouldn't go down that easily." She had what appeared to be chopsticks, or some type of antennae—_masts_—jutting out her head. Rizzo wondered what their function could be. Mobile communication towers? "The Admiral and the rest of 5th Fleet, too."

"Y-yeah! Ashigara and Maya are right!" the smallest one, Natori, added.

The last one and second shortest, Kako, didn't look to be interested in anything else other than being on lookout. Ada was reclining beside her, rifle resting near her leg and helmet on the muzzle. Her ears were focused toward them and eyes on the surroundings. Pulling double duty, as usual.

Donald, on the opposite end of the spectrum, looked to patrolling the area, but his chosen path suggested an inspection of Ashigara's lower body instead, following behind her as she now paced around in a fit. Ada must have caught this as well, because Donald suddenly went off course and tripped the ledge into the fountain in the city square's center. Splashing around, he pried off his helmet and threw it down, giving her the finger as he went to pick it up again.

"Sir, I believe searching for this fragment should be our top priority. Whatever it is, the enemy thinks it's important enough to have attacked Sheol." Nachi gave a signal for her unit to fall in. "We'll search any areas that your spotter identifies as suspicious." Glancing over to Ada, she gave a respectful nod.

"Ada?"

Ada hastily put her helmet on and went through her data again, "The Symbiotic Hime was searching around where the fountain is. The blueprints don't reveal anything underneath it, but if we can move it somehow, then maybe there's something hidden below it."

"Right," Rizzo looked in the fountain's direction, "Then first we figure out how to—"

"Ah, hey... Captain... uh..."

"What is it Donald?"

"I think I pressed something I shouldn't have!" He was backing up, helmet still in his hands as he again tripped over the ledge of the fountain. Crawling for his rifle, he took off the safety and aimed it at the fountain, which was slowly sinking into the ground, stone and all. Slowly getting to his feet and approaching, he whistled. "Come take a look at this, Captain! It's like a stairwell!"

Ashigara slapped him on the back, "Great job!"

"Ah!"

"My bad!" Ashigara grabbed him before he could fall, holding his waist with enough force to crush his bones as he gasped in pain and told her to ease up. She apologized again as he groaned on the ground, muttering to himself.

"You cracked something..." he wheezed, "Dammit, why's this shit always happen to me?!" Kako and Ada helped him to his feet as Ashigara apologized for a third time, explaining that she forgot he wasn't like her or the others. Which, he replied by asking her on a date as compensation. Ada shook her head when she accepted, no doubt thinking it a punishment as Donald was probably the last man Rizzo knew she'd go out with. He agreed.

"Looks like it's a spiral staircase." Kako spoke. Her voice was deeper than he'd expected from someone of her stature. "There's no bottom."

Nachi turned to him. "Your orders, sir?"

"Ada, toss a light down."

Two minutes passed with not a sound. "It disappeared, but the stairwell seems to go down all the way."

"Right. Then we're moving out!"

"Same formation as before! Kako, take point!"

Rizzo placed himself, Ada, and Donald in between Natori and Nachi, turning on his helmet's floodlight and making sure to watch each step. The stairwell started narrow but widened out as they went further down. A faint green light was coming from the very bottom, illuminating the walls to reveal sleek stone and crystal formations. This fragment the enemy was after down there... along with whatever else awaited them.

They had to be ready for whatever those may be.

**—◄ｴ**Θ**ｴ►—**

Total count of the dead numbered seventeen.

Judging from the enemy casualties, the force attacking Sheol was many times larger than the one at Summerland. After overwhelming 5th Fleet, they must have began their assault on the city. Everything was as she'd thought expect one: the number of dead.

When she'd learned more about the briefing, the Grand Admiral had told them the 5th Fleet was comprised of a total twenty-one Kanmusu. Yet, only seventeen were among the dead. That being the case, their Admiral must have sent a detachment to protect the city, either if the main fleet were be wiped out or a decent size of the enemy had slipped past. She suspected the latter. After all, a city's defense takes priority—but not with costs that could easily be avoided otherwise. If only a man like this had been appointed Grand Admiral instead; someone who actually led his men on the field instead of a coward who hid behind city walls. He must have not expected to lose here... if only he hadn't...

If only he hadn't done the exact same thing that bastard had, only the opposite. Instead of fighting superior numbers in the open, he should have retreated to the city and gathered them in one place for one decisive attack, Sheol be damned. Gripping her forearm, her fingernails tore skin and scratched the first protective layer underneath. Young, brash, and foolishly thinking he could win, only to get nearly his entire fleet destroyed—_he was nothing but trash. _Shiranui quelled her anger and looked up from the man's corpse.

Hamakaze and her unit were still checking for survivors, but there was no bringing them back, and picking up the scrapes and pieces would get them nowhere. To hope for survivors was _also_ foolish. They should be collecting any ammunition and armaments that would prove useful for the inevitable retaking of the city by both units, same as she'd ordered Kiso, Hatushimo, and Chikuma to do. It was the most logical decision.

Watching Chikuma say a prayer for each girl she salvaged equipment from, turning each time to talk to a ghost that wasn't there, she wondered what "Tone" was saying back. The real Tone would have done as ordered, keeping her thoughts to herself until the task was complete, only voicing her comments then. Whatever the Tone in her head was, it was much _weaker_ than what the real one had been. Prayers were pointless; they were dead.

The detachment sent to protect the city was also dead... or still fighting. The Admiral would have sent the most experienced of the 5th Fleet's members... if he were smart, a mostly ground efficient unit, but that didn't seem likely. Even so, a few had to at least be alive... Though, given how fresh the devastation was here, it wouldn't be for much longer.


End file.
